The Man of the Year

2003 Brazilian movie

Rating: 13/20

Plot: An unemployed 20-something with nothing exciting whatsoever on the horizon loses a soccer bet and has to dye his hair blond. His new hairdo adds some unanticipated pizazz to his life, and with a new confidence, he's able to ask out that pretty hairdresser and he's able to shoot the guy who called him a fag. That murder makes him a popular guy with local entrepreneurs and inspires his dentist to recruit him as security for businessmen willing to pay him.

This has cool covered. The Man of the Year is stylish, and the premise is as nifty as it is improbable. It sure is a jumpy movie, both visually with some quick cuts and handheld camera work and with a oft-disjointed plot. The jumpy plot isn't really a criticism. The story skims along, touches the high points, and focuses more on the causes and their effects. In a way, it lacks depth, but it's usually entertaining. My main criticism is that I had trouble feeling anything for the main character. I wanted (and I'm guessing the director wanted me) to like him, but there are a few moments when he does some reprehensible things and is guilty the entire movie of selfishness. In a voiceover at the beginning of the movie, the protagonist tells us that God has messed up his life in ingenuous ways, but I failed to see it. He was sort of driven by forces he couldn't control, but I wasn't sure these forces were driving him into a negative place exactly. So thematically, I thought this was pretty uneven. I'm not sure what the makers of this were trying to say about life in Brazilian slums or if there was any social commentary at all, but the poor urban backdrop did seem to add a little more than just texture to story.